Knightsbridge Terraces for July: Where to Eat Outside This Summer
Knightsbridge does not have a pavement café culture in the way Marylebone or Chelsea do. Brompton Road is too busy and Sloane Street too grand. What it has instead is height: rooftops above the department stores, terraces on hotel ground floors and a seventh-floor bar looking over Basil Street. With July settling in, these are the places to book for lunch in the sun or a drink as the light goes. Most are within a few minutes of each other, so one long afternoon can take in more than one.
Harvey Nichols: the refreshed Fifth Floor Terrace
The terrace at Harvey Nichols' Fifth Floor reopened for the season in June with a refreshed look, reached by the store's dedicated Fifth Floor lift. The menu is built for long, light lunches: salmon tartare with fennel, prawns and focaccia croutons at £23, a burrata and citrus salad with confit tomatoes at £17, and Cornish crab linguine with courgette cream at £24. Pastry chef Tulia's tiramisu, with dark chocolate crumble and whipped mascarpone, is £12. To drink there is a Hugo Spritz at £14, a Sunset Spritz at £13 and PIAFF Champagne in brut, rosé and blanc de blancs. Hot Dinners' look at the terrace has more on the new space. If the terrace is full, the rest of the floor offers Burger & Lobster, Zelman Meats, Madhu's Brasserie, the Fifth Floor Café and two bars. Bookings are taken through SevenRooms, and it is worth asking specifically for an outdoor table.
Harrods: The Grill on the Fifth
Across the road, the Fifth Floor of Harrods has its own covered rooftop terrace at The Grill on the Fifth, where the cooking is done over open flame and the menu leans on grilled steaks and seafood. The cover makes it the safer bet on one of London's changeable July afternoons, and it pairs neatly with a morning in the store below.
CLAP on Basil Street
For a view, CLAP Bar & Terrace at 12 to 14 Basil Street sits on the seventh floor with a 180 degree outlook over Knightsbridge. The drinks list is built on Japanese-inspired cocktails, there are DJs, and an intimate terrace connects to the bar. It is an evening place rather than a lunch one: go after work, when the rooftops opposite catch the last of the sun.
The Hyde Bar at The Park Tower
On Knightsbridge itself, The Hyde Bar at The Park Tower Knightsbridge has a ground-floor terrace with a circular bar, a dedicated cigar terrace and a list of more than 130 whiskies. Highland Wagyu is on the menu, and afternoon tea is served too, which makes it a useful stop for a group with different ideas about what an afternoon drink should be.
Before you go, the Knightsbridge Partnership's terrace guide, updated for this summer, lists further hotel gardens and bars nearby. Ask for the terrace when you book, keep an indoor back-up in mind for a wet afternoon, and remember that Knightsbridge station, on the Piccadilly line, is a short walk from all four.
Lead image: Loz Flowers via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
